


How to Train a Puppy (Owner)

by Sugar_and_Salt



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: ALL the fluff tbh, M/M, Slice of Life, alternative universe, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9122842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sugar_and_Salt/pseuds/Sugar_and_Salt
Summary: Because if there's anything worth fighting for, it's an adorable, little puppy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff, so much fluff! I hope this is to your liking ♥  
> Much love to my beta T, who is the best.

  
  


Jongin's day had not started out all that well. First of all, it was a Monday, which already placed it in the lowest rank. It was also the day he handed in a written essay about the advances in journalism since the 19th century, an essay he had studiously been working on (ever since he'd started it at ten the night before). The ink had barely dried when he handed it in, and Jongin was so tired he'd forgotten his lunch money.

Now, it was three in the afternoon, and Jongin was equal parts hungry, tired and just unhappy overall. But Jongin wasn't entirely pessimistic. If a day started out awful, chances were good that there was a turning point. Everything had turning points, even days. Or rather, especially days. And _maybe_ , just _maybe_ he could nudge this particular day in a better direction by stopping by his beloved pet store on the way back to his dorms. Alright, 'on the way' might be a little bit of a stretch, but any amount of work was worth it if it meant he could see all his fluffy friends. _Him_ in particular, Jongin thought, fingers already absently feeling for the bag of dog snacks in his right pocket. He was already humming a happy tune to himself as he skipped up the stairs and into the store. There was no need for a bell with that many dogs around, and a tiny, chatty dog called Baekhyun was already barking in his trademark mix of confused protectiveness and excitement. Jongin cooed at him, which increased the level of confusion to the point where the little dog in the cut-off area next to the door seemed like he was threatening to hyperventilate from excitement.

Jongin loved every dog, no matter the size, character or amount of fluffiness.  
He also loved Baekhyun, but that wasn't the dog he wanted to see most now. No, he really wanted to see-

"Huh?"

He froze in his steps when he saw the shiny, turquoise, plastic box on the counter. A brown puppy sat inside, yipping ever so slightly as it scratched at the grid.

"Chanyeol!"

The puppy halted in its motion, blinking up at him in recognition. Jongin shuffled over to him, already cooing at him to make the distressed puppy feel at ease, though he was hardly able to hide his upcoming wave of worry.

"Are you sick, little one?" he asked, thumbing at the grid just to feel the cool nose try to nudge his finger.

"Uhm, excuse me?"

Jongin didn't even look up at the voice.

"Excuse me."

"Yeah?" Jongin hummed absently, and only when he was nudged at the shoulder, did he look up and into the unhappy face of a blond around his age.

"I just bought this dog," he stated neutrally, though his face seemed frozen in a perpetual frown. Jongin blinked up at him dumbly.

"You what?"

"I bought this dog. He's mine now."

Now he had Jongin's whole attention. He was positively gaping at him.

"You didn't."

Draco Malfoy was beginning to get seriously irritated now.

"I told you I just did - they're getting the papers ready as we speak."

"But you _can't_! Not him! Not Chanyeol-ah!"

"Why, was he promised to you?" the boy asked with a perfectly arched eyebrow, and Jongin faltered.

"Well, not exactly-"

"Then I fail to see your point. Please back off."

Jongin might have actually stomped his foot, though he'd deny it if anyone asked about it later.

"But you can't! Are you even gonna take good care of him? Do you have experience with dogs?"

For the first time, the perfect mask showed a crack.

"Not really-" the boy began, just a tad bit insecure, and Jongin saw his chance.

"See? Belgian shepherds aren't for newbies, you gotta be experienced to raise them well! Do you even know anything about his breed? What his needs are, how tall he gets, what kind of character he has?"

"Every dog has a different character though, right-"

"-how well he adapts to apartment living, to people, to other dogs-"

"I do know that stuff, because I was just told by the sales assistant, alright? Would you leave me be?!" the blond hissed, and while Jongin didn't like being yelled at, he hadn't provoked it for nothing. This wasn't just any dog, it was Chanyeol. His favorite pup out of the litter of his favorite dog, the pure-bred and well-raised shepherd of the shop owner's daughter. Upon first sight of the bundle of fluffy, sleepy puppies, Jongin had fallen in love with the one showing a distinct black patch of fur right on his forehead, the big, clumsy paws and the still floppy ears which were even larger than those of the rest. He'd fallen quickly and deeply, with no return. And by the way the little thing had padded towards him, Chanyeol had instantly returned his affections. A match made in heaven, Jongin liked to think. He'd grow up to be such a magnificent, smart, _beautiful_ dog. But that didn't change the fact that-

"Jongin, are you harassing that customer?"

With a sigh, Yixing entered the store with a handful of papers. Jongin swore he heard him mutter something along the lines of _'I was hoping to get this done before you’d show up_ ', but with Yixing, he'd simply deny any accusations and blame the language barrier.

"Yixing! You traitor!" Jongin whined shamelessly, still refusing to step away from the plastic box, which the boy frowned heavily at. The Chinese sales assistant showed no mercy, though.

"Jongin, I realize that you like him, but he needs a home soon. He's already ten weeks old, it's time. And you won't take him in, right?"

This shut him up for good, and he felt the haughty look of the customer bore holes in his head. He hated it. Stupid kid - so what if he was the same age as Jongin? In terms of dog-raising, he was still a puppy himself!

"But how do you know it'll be a good home?"

Yixing gently shook his head.

"You can never guarantee that, Jongin. Sehun here seems genuine though. It's not you making this decision. It's 40% him, 40% the pup, and 20% me."

The blond boy - Sehun - seemed mildly curious about this statement, though he refused to voice any thoughts. He was probably happy someone was putting Jongin in his place. Tch, he looked like a spoiled only child hiding behind the authority of an adult, Jongin thought with disdain. _Fight your own battle_ , he added, glaring daggers at the other.

"Now please stop harassing our customer. Don't make me take action," Yixing said, mostly sounding tired and a tad disappointed, which stung more than Jongin cared to admit. To Sehun, he bowed curtly, apologizing for Jongin's behavior.

"It's okay," the boy said, though his gaze remained skeptical and slightly dismissive. He stacked away the papers and reached for the box. Chanyeol yipped quietly, and Jongin's heart noisily broke into a thousand pieces as he looked after him leaving the store. Just when the door closed, Jongin zoomed after him, ignoring Yixing's frustrated calls. The smell of animals was exchanged with a rush of fresh air as Jongin jumped after the guy stopping next to a rather sleek, back car.

"W-wait!"

The blond turned around, a mix of wariness and impatience on his face. Jongin swallowed, realizing he had to choose his next words carefully and hurry with doing so.

"Look. I'm sorry," he began, figuring the best way to go was honesty, "for sounding like a dick, I mean. I'm just... really attached to that puppy. I've been spending time with it almost every day since it was brought to the pet store. I even gave him the name he had when you purchased him. I mean, you probably changed it, but-"

"I didn't."

The voice of the other was almost soft now, a contrast to his previous glares. He was all but shielding the box with his palms now, to avoid the wind rattling the overwhelmed little ball of fur.

"A name is a name. Why change it if he already has one?"

It wasn't a question, really. More of a neutral statement inciting a vague hope in Jongin. _Tread carefully now_ , he told himself.

"So you really have zero experience with dogs?" he prodded cautiously, and though Sehun's lips twitched in annoyance, he evidently tried to keep the snark at bay.

"Yes. So what? I can learn."

"I can teach you."

There, he'd said it. Sehun blankly stared at him, looking genuinely dumbfounded. There was something in his expression, something that vanished as quickly as it had come, and Sehun closed off, both figuratively and literally.

"No thanks, I can figure out how to handle a pet on my own," he announced as he leaned over the seat to place the box next to the driver's seat. Jongin may like dogs a little too much though, because he imagined having found a trail.

"Just gimme your phone," he all but demanded, and when Sehun's hand twitched towards the phone peeking out of his jeans' pocket, Jongin took this as permission to flat-out reach for it himself, which the other took with a rather undignified squeak. Under Sehun's utterly incredulous eyes, Jongin copied his number from his own phone, saving it under 'Puppy Helpdesk!', before returning it.

He realized that he was being every level of impudent right now, but no matter how pushy he was, Sehun didn't actively put a halt to it - even though he'd shown earlier that he was very much capable of actively telling people off. No, he just watched Jongin enter his number, almost absently taking his phone back. How very strange.

"I'm not going to call you," he said almost defensively. Jongin shot him an encouraging smile.

"Don't hesitate. Also, if you just need someone to take care of him while you're gone, or to take a long walk with him - you do know that shepherds need all the exercises, right? - anyway, I'll be there. Anything. Just hit me up and I'll be there, no judgment."

Not even a minute later, Jongin looked after the car speeding off, the words _'I am_ _ **not**_ _going to call you_!' hanging heavily in the air.  
  


 

* * *

 

Jongin wasn't too confident in the probability of Sehun contacting him. After all, Sehun seemed like a rather stubborn person (and Jongin didn't exactly make a good impression, either). So he was all the more surprised when he not only got a text, but a whole video two days later. It showed Chanyeol curled up and fast asleep - and Jongin was cooing so hard it was bordering on being embarrassing. The little one was twitching a little and breathing harshly, until his breath seemed to stop for a second... just to hit in shortly after, back to being erratic all over again.

Below it, a short text said nothing but ' _Is that normal'_?

Now Jongin tried not to coo at the owner of the pet, because that would be weird. With a small smile, he quickly typed back a reassurance that yes, this was completely harmless behavior of a sleeping puppy. He instantly got an ' _Ok_ ', and then, about five minutes later, a curt, belated _'Thanks'_ , as if Sehun only remembered now.

 

* * *

 

There were more messages after that. It started out like those before - all rather curt and urgent, as if Sehun was really putting off asking him. But Jongin remained patient, and it seemed to pay off. Call him a freak, but all those little photos and video clips of Chanyeol being his usual adorable self felt like a reward to Jongin. Just knowing how the little thing was doing gave him an unreasonable amount of joy.

All the evidence of supposedly worrying behavior turned to an all-text message of Sehun complaining about the puppy peeing everywhere, and Jongin in turn advised him on proper potty training.

One day, he received a photo taken at the supermarket, of the dog food shelf, with a curt _'Left or right?_ ', distracting Jongin from a lecture he was in. He smiled down at his screen, dimly realizing that he wasn't smiling because of the puppy this time. Something about Sehun was just so adorable. It lay in the way he put up a reluctant and curt front even when texting, but wasn't too proud to reach out for help - or maybe he was just getting desperate - either way, that meant he worried about Chanyeol, and that ultimately made him a good person in Jongin's books.

 

Sometimes, just sometimes, Jongin would receive rather vague, general questions.

 _'So how much outside time does he need?'_ or ' _at what age will he stop growing?_ '

They were questions that Sehun could very easily look up online, and they were oddly timed, too, mostly arriving when Jongin was sitting in lectures, trying not to fall asleep.

 _'Are you bored, Oh Sehun?',_ Jongin would ask himself, but indulged him in answers anyway. It was one of those days, that had Jongin wonder what Sehun was actually doing for the first time. He was his age, after all.

_'Are you a student?'_

Jongin stared at his screen in barely concealed impatience. The app gave no implication that it was read, but Sehun was online. Sneaky boy had probably turned off the notifications.

_'Business, 3rd semester. Why?'_

Jongin's heart skipped a beat. He wasn't sure whether it was excitement, curiosity, or just mere recognition. Their university offered business degrees, too. Not that it was an uncommon subject in any way. Would it change anything if Sehun attended the same university?

 

Now, Jongin was a stubborn boy. He could have simply asked Sehun about his university, too, but the boy had already seemed so suspicious at his first question. Jongin refused to 'show weakness' - as he called it in his head - and instead of asking him, he kept his eyes open. It was very much possible that they'd gone to the same place all along and Jongin had seen him without _seeing_ him. It took him quite a while, almost two weeks of hawk eyes wandering over the masses, until he spotted him. There, in the mensa, occupying a faraway corner at a lone table, did he sit. He hadn't seen him since that fateful day at the pet shop. But there he was, just as blond and aristocratic as Jongin remembered him. With a perfectly schooled expression of boredom, he scrolled through something on his phone.

"You're staring..."

Jongin flinched, ever the bad actor he was, and because that wasn't enough already, he also almost choked on a mouthful of fries, too. Just to get across how much he felt caught red-handed. Thanks, traitorous body. It had been an offhanded comment by his close friend (and pretty much only friend) Kyungsoo, but the way he'd reacted had caught the attention of Jongdae, who could only technically be called his friend.

"Staring? At _whooom_?" he asked, dragging the word out in such a sleazy way that Jongin unconsciously pulled his chair away a few inches.

Really, he was _Kyungsoo's_ friend at most. The thing was just that Jongdae was nosy _and_ noisy. Stoic Kyungsoo seemed to be one of the very few people willing to tolerate him, though Jongdae liked to add that Kyungsoo also tolerated Jongin and his incessant talk about animals. Come to think of it, they were a bunch of weirdos indeed. And yet they at least had each other and weren't sitting alone. Unlike-

"It's blondie, isn't it? Blond prince in the far back?"

Only an annoyed grunt from Kyungsoo could stop Jongdae from embarrassing himself as he craned his head to see properly. It may have stopped his attempts of making a fool of himself, but also confirmed his statement, much to Jongin's chagrin.

"I knew it!" he announced way too loudly, only to get kicked by Kyungsoo below the table. "I _knew_ you're rooting for the other team!" he continued with a little wince smearing his triumph.

"Oh my god, make it stop..." Jongin whined, eyes trained on his pathetic food and praying Sehun wasn't hearing the commotion.

"Isn't that Oh Sehun though? I didn't think you'd be into him. Though, to be fair, I spent a fair amount of time speculating whether you're into dogs-"

"Jongdae, please, stop right there! You're fucking gross!"

His complaint was actually acknowledged, and Jongdae backtracked a bit.

"I know about that guy though. I mean, I don't exactly know _everybody_ here, but people mentioned him quite a bit in the past," Jongdae blabbered, and despite his annoyed expression, Jongin found himself listening very closely, "because he has this really impressive, mightier-than-thou attitude. People totally don't dare fuck with him. He'd probably laser you down with a look."

Oh yeah. Jongin remembered that annoyed look all too well. That one had stung. And yet he couldn't help but think back to the picture of the supermarket shelf, or the one where Chanyeol had awkwardly sat on the second chair, barking and whining because he had no idea how to go back or forth.

He was still staring at Sehun flipping through his phone when his own suddenly vibrated. Sehun had texted him, right this second. And it wasn't even a question - it was simply a photo of adorable little Chanyeol being huddled into a woolen sweater on the ground, dozing perfectly content and wrapped up in his owner's scent.

_'Found him like this when I came home yesterday.'_

Jongin spent the next ten minutes cooing like an idiot, saving the picture and annoying the hell out of his two friends, who didn't even ask where he found _this_ adorable picture now. With Jongin, you just stop asking at one point. Jongdae was convinced he was subscribed to some children's magazine for animal babies (he wasn't. He canceled that subscription years ago).

When he was done fawning over the puppy though, he looked back up at Sehun. Who was still sitting there with an unreadable gaze. This was the first time he sent him an openly casual message, and seeing him like that it was obvious that he _was_ bored. Well, Jongin wasn't an asshole, and he really didn't have a reason to _dislike_ Sehun, so he quickly typed a reply before the boy thought he was ignoring him.

 

_'I'm sorry. I just died from too much adorableness. This puppy is breaking my heart and mending it by merely existing. How do you even live, seeing him all day long??'_

 

He looked up just in time, and sure, Sehun was rather far away so he couldn't be sure, but it looked like he biting his lips to conceal a smile.

 

 

* * *

 

More random photos of fluffy Chanyeol arrived in their chat, taking over the questions. Sometimes, whenever Jongin had a particularly bad day, he'd even whine at Sehun to send him one to brighten his day. The other never failed to deliver, as if he had countless photos saved, just waiting to be used. Well, if he was only half as much in love with the puppy as Jongin, he probably did. It was almost a strange concept, that the arrogant-looking rich kid (because there was no way he wasn't, judging by that car he'd driven) was this in love with something as pure as a puppy. Then again, Jongin hadn't met Sehun, the elusive student, but Sehun, the guy who was dead set on buying _his_ puppy. Well, now it was Sehun's dog. Chanyeol had been staying at his place for almost two months now, and while Jongin was sad that he couldn't physically pet the little thing, he was still a part of his upbringing, albeit second-hand. And maybe, just maybe he had found himself an online friend.

 

 

* * *

 

 

From: Chanyeol-ah's owner

_'Do you wanna see him? In person?  
Also, there's something I wanted to ask you, anyway.'_

 

To: Chanyeol-ah's owner

 _'...I could? Really?!_  
YES  
I mean  
Yes, of course I'd like to'

 

Jongin tried to keep himself from being judgmental. Or flat-out gaping.

Oh Sehun really was as filthy rich as people had murmured among themselves.

He was currently padding down a pavement with polished white stones churning beneath his feet. They were so white that the sunlight reflecting off of them almost blinded him, effectively drawing away the attention from the lavish garden. This looked less like a common, but generous home, and more like a showy lawyer's office, built to impress, not to be _lived_ in.

He double-checked the name on the plate, though he wasn't even doubting that the boy driving a Maserati (which he totally hadn't looked up) to a pet store, would live here.

He rang the bell once, and waited patiently. He was half-expecting to have a maid open the door for him, but it was just Sehun, looking mostly deadpan, though the rather tight, ratty T-shirt with a superhero print was definitely taking the edge off.

"Hi."

"Hey," Jongin greeted, suddenly feeling a little small. It must be this big, big mansion and his expression and curt tone.

Jongin lightly shook his head. Don't be an idiot, he told himself. This is the guy who is just as old as I am and adopted a puppy without even knowing whether it was supposed to live inside or outside of an apartment.

"What's up? How are you doing?" Jongin asked only mildly awkwardly as he brusquely welcomed himself inside, taking off his jacket and shoes as if he'd been there a thousand times before. Sehun was just hovering beside him, sounding a little confused.

"Good. I'm fine."

Jongin hummed, still wearing the weak mask of nonchalance.

"So?" he asked after a second of silence, looking at him expectantly. "Where's Yeollie?"

Sehun blinked, absently licking his lips as the thoughts were processed.

"Right. Upstairs. In my room."

Sehun led the way up a fine, wooden staircase - reminding Jongin of the thorough lesson

he'd given him on how to stop dogs from chewing on furniture or, in this case, stair rails.

Halfway up Sehun seemed to suddenly remember to return a polite _'and you, how are you doing?_ ', but Jongin didn't have much to tell, seeing as 'fawning to my friends over your puppy' seemed a little weird, even in his ears.

Sehun's room was much less impressive than he would have imagined it, judging by the rest of the house and his appearance. It was just... normal. The same, simple Ikea bed Kyungsoo had, the same school supplies spread out everywhere, one or two lone band posters adorning the wall-

A happy yip short-circuited his brain as Chanyeol excitedly padded towards him in recognition.

Jongin cooed like his life depended on it, immediately sinking to his knees to welcome the eager puppy.

"You remember me! Chanyeol-ah, you're still such a _cutie_!"

"I thought you told me dogs lack a feeling of time and barely notice whether you're gone for a week or a month?" a voice came from the doorway behind him. Jongin looked back over his shoulder and up at Sehun, who wore an unreadable gaze.

"You're a good student, thumbs up," Jongin admitted with a content smile, before turning back to the excited puppy that kept nudging his hand insistently to remind him definitely not to neglect the petting.

"But he's still a babyyy, so let me live, okay? Let me be happy this precious little pup remembers me," he continued, playfully ruffling the fur, until it got too much and Chanyeol shook himself, ears flopping noisily. Jongin bit his lip in order to keep the incoherent sounds in. Sehun made a breathy sound that could have been a laugh.

"I'll get you some coke..." he mumbled, and soon Jongin heard him take the stairs again.

"Well? Is he treating you well, Chanyeol-ah?" Jongin asked in a conspiratory voice, lifting the puppy up in his arms to better cuddle him. Sure, it wasn't a habit a soon-to-be huge dog should have, but _let me live_ , Jongin responded in his head. Just this once. Besides, the little puppy seemed so happy that he might go into overdrive real soon.

Jongin still diligently scratched the ball of fur behind the floppy ears as he looked around the room. Sehun seemed to be such a casual guy, who would have thought? The room seemed more lived in than the rest of the house he'd seen so far. For some reason, it reminded him of the way Sehun had been talking to him, ever since they met. He may be annoyed, may even have a rightful reason to do so, but he'd never once blocked Jongin's attempts at communicating with him. It was like that time where he'd just taken his phone, and Sehun had let it happen. Even though Jongin was just an animal-loving weirdo forcing himself upon him - Sehun had just let him. And whenever he saw him around at university, he was always alone. And now he was sitting on the floor of his room, in this giant house, and it was dead silent.

Maybe Sehun was just really, really... _lonely_.

Maybe that was the reason why he had gone into that pet store, falling in love with the most warm hearted, welcoming little puppy. This wasn't about the prestige of having a big, proud, showy dog. This really was all about Sehun seeking some company.

The realization sparked an odd feeling in him he couldn't quite describe. A dash of guilt over being so begrudging when he initially purchased what Jongin liked to think of as his own puppy, but also a weird affection. Not really pity.

...alright, maybe pity, but it was a little more than that. Because so far, Sehun seemed like someone Jongin would genuinely like to know better. And here he was, invited in by the supposedly cold and distant guy. Sehun must trust him somewhat, right?

 

"I'll put it on the desk, yeah?"

Jongin flinched, in turn shocking the little puppy that had finally begun to calm down under his ministrations.

"Y-yeah," he stammered, unsure of what to make of his emotions yet. In order to change the topic to something safer, he turned towards Sehun, who had plopped down on the edge of his bed with a glass of coke of his own.

"His ears are still floppy!" he announced, not only stating the obvious but also demonstrating it by playing with Chanyeol's ears, who squirmed in his hold. "Chanyeol-ah is kinda late with teething, I see. But it's okay, soon your ears will stand up - isn't that right, Chanyeol?"

He nuzzled his nose in between the ears, and the puppy was beginning to squirm even more. With a laugh, Jongin let him go, watching the clumsy feet padding towards Sehun, who leaned down to scratch his head with much less force than Jongin.

"You put his bed right next to yours, too, huh?" Jongin kept talking, brain running on autopilot now. God, he was turning into Jongdae.

"I bet you sleep with your arm hanging out of the bed to pet Yeollie to sleep, right?"

Sehun looked a little taken aback. Maybe even flustered?

"H-how did you know?"

Jongin couldn't keep in the genuine smile. It just happened without his consent, carrying the warm feelings he felt to the outside.

"Because that's what I used to do, whenever my parents got a new dog. Making them feel less lonely."

For a second, Sehun looked at him as if he had given him a puzzle to solve. Then he seemed to catch himself, shaking his head a little. Not unlike a puppy, Jongin noted with a faint grin.

"Anyway, I said I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeees?" Jongin asked as he ungracefully crawled closer to get his hands back on the fluffy puppy that had already forgotten to be annoyed at him.

"I was thinking. Would you maybe want to- and I don't mean this in a strange way, but-"

Jongin hummed, attention still torn between the boy on the bed and the puppy at his feet. Maybe they could go out for a walk later.

"-move in with me?"

Jongin's finger stilled somewhere on the puppy's bared tummy.

"What?"

He saw Sehun's shoulders tense, and the fingers turning that little bit paler around the glass.

"It's not- I was just thinking that I'd like to move out, and into my own apartment. Dogs aren't allowed in dorms," he added quickly at Jongin's arched brow, "as you obviously know, so... yeah."

"And why would I move in with you...?" Jongin began, realizing how wrong this sounded, pictures of Sehun sitting all by himself flashing up in his mind. He wouldn't want to hurt him accidentally.

"Don't get me wrong," he added, both hands lifted in defense, "it's not that I think living together with you would suck. It's just that you barely even know me?"

Sehun blinked, eyes flitting between Jongin, the floor, and finally coming to a rest on Chanyeol, who was still lazily lying on the carpet, exhausted by the amount of energy he'd wasted over the past few minutes.

"You know... it's... no, forget it."

Jongin listened intently, trying really hard not to push him.

"I just thought because you love Chanyeol so much, you might like to live in the same apartment as him? Also, living alone is kinda boring, don't you think?"

The last sentence was thrown out into the silence way too quickly, way too casually to be natural. Jongin looked up at him, and saw nothing but a slightly awkward, insecure guy. Suffering from the ongoing silence, Sehun added "also, you said that Chanyeol will need at least an hour of exercise every day when he's older. What if I get too busy sometimes? You offered me the help, you can't back out on that at least-"

 _At least._ Sehun was already regretting having asked, thinking that he'd be rejected for sure.

"Okay."

Without moving another muscle, Sehun stared at him with wide eyes.

"Really?"

And wow, he looked really hopeful right now. Just pure, child-like hope shining in his eyes. Jongin shrugged.

"Sure. Why not? But I'm telling you, no matter how big the apartment you choose to fit your spoiled lifestyle, I won't pay any more rent than I currently pay at the dorms!"

"Of course not, that would be silly. Who could afford that?" Sehun quickly relented, and upon realizing how arrogant that sounded, he added that Jongin would just get the tiniest room possible, though his burning cheeks really hide any snark he was trying to fake.

 

Jongin stopped listening to his rambling halfway through and leaned his back against Sehun's bed, dropping his head on the boy's thigh as he cradled the sleepy puppy in his lap. The motion effectively shut Sehun up, but Jongin's mind was too unfocused to mind the boy's flustered state. He was just sitting there, cheek mashed against jeans, posture and state of mind mirroring the one of the content puppy. He'd move in with Sehun, leave the shabby dorm room behind in favor of raising this beautiful, beautiful dog together with him.

Yes, Jongin thought. He'd be living together with this interesting guy.

He couldn't wait to start packing his stuff.

 

 

 

  
  


 


End file.
